Students of Commonwealth Hall, known as Vandals joined the Madina Municipal Assembly as they embarked on a cleanup exercise at the Madina Market and its environs.
The clean up exercise which begun at the early hours of 6am on Saturday 6th October 2018 saw the current Vandals , Hall Master and some Old Vandals, Alumni of the Hall present during the exercise.
Speaking to some of the students , they expressed the need to revamp the corporate social responsibility elements which forms part of Vandalism shared.
“Am very excited we did these together and I believe as we were informed earlier, Vandalism is a culture, and giving back to the society forms part of it which we are optimistic we will revamp such initiatives” Asiedu a level 400 Students of Commonwealth Hall JCR.
Hall Master of Commonwealth Hall, Prof.Frank Nyame who was seen with the students during the cleanup exercise encouraged students to channel their energies on social corporate social responsibility and lead by example which the Hall stood for over the years.
Prof. Nyame, according to sources, was informed about his students in Madina for a clean up exercise which prompted him to visit them.
Speaking on the purpose of the cleanup exercise , one of the student mentioned that , the initiative was to encourage Vandals to give back to society which forms part of the reforms of the Hall to go back to the roots of Vandalism a culture which fosters unity, brotherliness and being the voice to the voiceless in society through corporate social responsibility.
They called for other students to use their intellectual power and energies to solve social problems.
“Let’s keep the city clean and it’s people healthy at all times. As students, we need to use our brain power and energies to solve social challenges” Michael a level 300 students expressed.
“the true nature of Vandalism goes beyond Politics, Education among others. True Vandalism also depicts cleanliness social intervention programs” he said.
He noted the need for students to get involve in providing solutions to challenges confronting the society and not depend on foreigners alone.
“The development of Ghana doesn’t rely on foreigners alone, all depends on us and we as vandals must encourage other students to also take the opportunity to provide solutions for the society” he added.
Images and videos which went viral on some social media platforms with hashtags “#LetscleanGhanaNow #VandalscleanMadina #CleanGhana” among others has sparked some interesting comments on social media as some members of the general public lauded such initiative spearheaded by Commonwealth Hall.
According to some Old Vandals who explained the essence of Vandalism, they first mentioned that to them, the word does not connote violence as often being mistrusted by some of the students and the general public.
“Vandalism to us in brief is a culture that fosters brotherhood, unity and collectively addressing issues affecting society. It’s also exhibits and preserves the rich culture heritage of Africa, more importantly the Ghanaian traditions” Mr. Ansah said.
He advised students to desist from any act of clashes amongst us and rather focus on the brilliant initiative they have started. He finally called on the media to also report on some of the good initiatives by Vandals.
“Often you see on social media Vandals have done this or that especially when a bad incident happens. The media will clinch the news and run with with some of them not probing further. When the boys are doing something positive, or supporting great initiatives, the media must also report on that as well to encourage the boys” he said.
Speaking to a food vendor at Madina Market who mentioned her names as Haijia Mumuni also lauded the initiative by Commonwealth Hall as she expressed in the local language Twi that the Commonwealth Hall students had demonstrated such valor in helping them clean their environment.
“For a very long time now, since I sell here, no students group has come here to do a clean up exercise like this. It is very good, they have done so well and am happy to see them sing while cleaning the place” Hajia Mumuni said (Translated)
Others also shared that there is the need to drum a wake up call to members of the communities to stop loitering about and keep the city clean.
“we dey tired for this dumping of anything about on the street and gutters here. We all must keep the city clean and what this boys did here is very good and we must all clean our environment well. We must tell every body to get involve to clean the environment ” Mr. Yaw a pedestrian said.
Vandals were seen cleaning the gutters, the streets and the markets. They also sung their inspirational songs which drew a lot of attention and smiles of pedestrians and some traders while others took their mobile phones to capture the Vandals.
Meanwhile, Commonwealth Hall issued a paper dated 28th September 2018 on the establishment of a Committe comprising Management of the Hall, Old Vandals Association (OVA) and Fellows of the Hall on “SUSTAINING THE CULTURE OF VANDALISM” which forms part of the reforms undertaken by the Commonwealth Hall.
It’s expected that the Committee will furnish members of Commonwealth Hall and the Global Chapters of OVA with its final reports.
